Paying Your Dues: Who Really Benefits When You Pay a Speeding Ticket?
Posted: Thursday, January 11th, 2018 at 12:37 am
Paying fines is the worst. Not only do you have to part with your hard-earned money, but you get nothing in return. Except, of course, for increased insurance rates, points against your license, and a ticket on your record in the case of speeding tickets. Fines associated with traffic violations seem to increase every year, and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest they don’t even have an affect on how safe our roads are. Still, even though car crashes are so commonplace we don’t even blink when they’re on the news, ticket prices keep increasing and new regulations are passed every day. But if the roads aren’t safer and drivers don’t seem to be deterred, who’s really benefiting?
Who Benefits When You Pay Your Fine?
There are several industries that profit greatly when you pay a traffic ticket. In fact, these ticket fees are essentially pure profit for governments. And to be clear, we’re talking massive profit. Somewhere in the 3.5 to 7.5 billion dollar range on an annual basis nationwide, and that’s just for governments. Insurance companies have gotten away with increasing insurance premiums for years, even for a single moving violation. They’re receiving the same amount of money overall, on an annual basis, as the governments are. That means you’re looking at nearly 15 billion dollars in potential revenue to just governments and insurance companies alone in pure profit generated from pulling you over because you went 50 in a 45.
What Are the Statistics?
If all this money is being generated from ticketing drivers, what are the statistics surrounding those tickets? The basic facts are quite staggering to consider. On an average day in the United States, 112,000 people are issued a speeding ticket. Annually, about 41 million people get a ticket, but the estimates actually go up into the 50 millions by some counts. If you’re doing the math, that means that during any given year about 21 percent of all drivers will be ticketed. That’s a massive percentage. That means, given an average cost of $152 per ticket, around $6.2 billion, though the number is much higher given that so many tickets cost far more than the average. Another way to look at this staggering statistic is that, on average, each police officer in the United States brings in $300,000 a year in ticket revenue alone. Of course, it doesn’t divide out exactly that way, but it’s an eye-opening way to look at the situation.
Who’s Fighting Their Tickets?
With all this money going into the ticket industry, surely drivers are fighting their tickets in droves, right? Given that 21 percent of all drivers are being ticketed in a given year, surely a huge portion of those 41 million people are raising cane in the traffic courts. You might think so, but the truth is only five percent (5%) of all traffic tickets are contested in court. That means 95 percent of people who receive a ticket pay the fine, contributing to a system that most people argue was designed to make a profit without doing much to make the roads any safer.
What’s So Bad About Paying?
Nobody’s going to change the system in a single act of defiance by not paying their ticket, and fighting a ticket takes time. Many people consider fighting a ticket to be more of an inconvenience than simply paying the fee, and perhaps it looks that way on the surface. But once you consider what you’re actually doing by paying the fine, the situation starts to look different. For one thing, paying the fine is admitting guilt, so you have no legal recourse to fight any result of the traffic ticket after you pay. For another, you’ll deal with increased insurance rates, points or marks against your license, additional fines and surcharges depending on the nature of the moving violation, and in some situations you could even face license suspension. Having moving violations on your record can affect everything from your ability to purchase a car to being able to work or obtain a job if driving is a large part of it. It’s clear to see that the long-term costs of paying that initial fine are very steep, indeed.
Fighting Your Traffic Ticket
Sure, fighting your speeding ticket might take time, but it’s also the best option you have if you want to protect yourself and your record. Given that governments and their employees are so heavily motivated to obtain ticket revenue, there’s a good chance your speeding ticket can be reversed if you have a solid defense behind you. Finding an attorney can seem a daunting process for some, but it doesn’t have to be.
Ticket Void has been working with drivers just like you for years, helping them find the best attorney for their particular case. All it takes is a few pieces of information, and we’ll match you with a qualified, experienced attorney who can help you fight your ticket and preserve your record. The initial consultation is free, so what do you have to lose? Get started today, and exercise your right to fight.
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